A PUBLIC meeting has been called to discuss the implications of an industrial estate on farmland between Tyldesley and Mosley Common.

Local councillors Alan Stephenson and Brian Wilson have invited locals to the meeting which starts at 7pm on Monday, February 24 in Garrett Hall School, Tyldesley.

Many residents are firmly opposed to the Peel Holdings plans -- and more than 250 people have signed a petition to register opposition .

They believe development would damaging the environment -- and destroy the last piece of open land left between Tyldesley and Mosley Common.

One concerned resident, Marian Critchley, from Withington Drive in Astley, said: "Residents just don't want an industrial estate in the area. Their are lots of families with kids and a new industrial estate would make the roads unsafe for them, because their will be increased traffic and more heavy goods vehicles on the road.

"The kids who go to Garrett Hall School can look out of the window and see green fields now, but all they will see if the proposal goes ahead is an industrial estate -- it's not much of a view."

Development is also opposed by Cllr Brian Wilson who said: "We share residents' concerns that the only open land between Astley and Mosley Common would disappear if this goes ahead. The area is classed as 'open land' on the Unitary Development Plan and retains that status in the UDP update."